Until this week, few people in Ohio could have named the president of the State Board of Education, even if Vanna White gave them a sneak peak at all of the vowels and most of the consonants.

Presidents of these kinds of boards don’t usually make headlines unless they abscond with the funds or kidnap a baby. Debe Terhar, however, has made headlines with flair. Recently elected to a second term as board president, Terhar decided to leap into the debate about arming teachers. Concerned only about the safety of Ohio’s children, Terhar put up a post on her Facebook account, comparing President Barack Obama’s positions on gun control to something a crazed Nazi dictator might favor.

When the post came to light, Terhar quickly assured Catherine Candisky, reporting for the Columbus Dispatch,that—oh, no, oh, no—she wasn’t comparing Obama to Hitler. She only wanted people to “step back and think about it and look at history” and realize that tyrants always get their start by disarming citizens. So she posted a picture of Hitler and added this nugget of wisdom: “Never forget what this tyrant said: ‘To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.’ — Adolf Hitler.”

And you thought the question was “school children.”

Let’s give Terhar the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she’s not a narrow-minded bigot, even if the picture she used to make her point did originate with a Facebook page called “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children,” an unfortunate hijacking of a moniker familiar to any Marine. As Candisky explains, the page, “features a variety of anti-Obama, pro-gun posts and photos, such as scantily clad women hoisting large guns, a polar bear with the words ‘Holy f*** I’m glad I’m white,’ and another saying ‘Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?’”

Visit the site yourself and check out pictures like the one below, with comments from individuals like Preston Durty Jones:

If good mental health is a prerequisite for gun ownership, you have to wonder about some of the folks who post their opinions here on Facebook. Highlights include a link to a story about the coming “gun confiscation” that will result if there are universal background checks for all gun purchases. Apparently, federal agents — or maybe U. N. soldiers — will be knocking on doors demanding weapons. Luckily, reasonable Americans with all kinds of guns at their fingertips are armed and ready:

Brandon HallHaha there will be a lot of dead mother fuckers at my front door if they are coming for that such reason. Just sayin

Jerry Bruce Stagner thats why i invite the neighbor’s we play slay the swat team,turn out is great

Caroline Regalado Civil war in America! I hope the cops nd the military will back up the people instead of the moron.

Bill CrabtreeBack when Japan attacked us at Pearl Harbor the reason why they did not invade the other 49 states here in the United States was because they did a survey back then and the citizens of United States had over 2 million guns in their control just imagine how many Guns are here today…

Yeah, just imagine. The number is something like 270 million and still counting … and counting. It might be worth noting, too, that there were only 48 states in 1941 and that the Japanese did hope to invade Hawaii and go from there. Invading the U. S. across thousands of miles of ocean was a daunting task, however, even if all the people waiting on the shore had been armed with no more than can openers. It wasn’t so much fear of those two million guns, either, so much as the fact that the U. S. Navy kicked the crap out of the Japanese and sank four of their aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway.

Anyway, back to “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children.” At least one poster, named Noah, tries to explain the math to all the overwrought gun owners—that there aren’t nearly enough U. N. soldiers or ATF agents to seize all the weapons.

His comments are swallowed up amid all the howling:

Destany Schexnider Noah no disrespect at all. Just a question what about swat? What about the CIA you can’t say the CIA won’t follow orders from him they already shot a man because Obama claimed he could be a terrorist! And if he brings over soldiers from the other countries our enemy’s that he bows down to? Just wondering what then? I pray we have most soldiers on our side and law enforcements.

Heather Langham Enblom I’ve got no problom putting a bullet in a Blue helmet from overseas either! Becuz I KNOW 100% OUR TROOPS WONT DO IT! Even THEY know ODUMMER is the DOMESTIC ENEMY!!

Another link, which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with gun control, but does considering the views of many visitors to this page, is: “Wisconsin Teacher Teaches White Guilt to Students.”

My original intent, when I began considering a story, was going to be to point out again how absurd comparisons of Hitler to Obama have become. Sadly, this entire page turned out to be a cornucopia of paranoid delusion.

One final example should suffice, a link to a story about a shocking claim made by “renowned author and humanitarian Dr. Jim Garrow” on his Facebook page yesterday (these people do seem to love to post screeds in the social media). Garrow fails to name his source but warns terrified readers that it was one of “America’s foremost military heroes.”

Then he delivers:

“I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new ‘litmus test’ in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. ‘The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.’ Those who will not are being removed.”

One comes away from this Facebook page understanding how hard it’s going to be to have any kind of reasonable discussion about gun controls in this country. You find yourself thinking, “These people don’t need more guns or ammunition. They need to be placed on powerful medications.”

Help us get the word out!

Author: John Viall
John is an ex-Marine, a retired teacher and currently at work on a book about education, called "Two Legs Suffice: Lessons Learned by Teaching." He writes about education at
http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/.

We should not try to push these fascist, racist nut cases underground. It is much safer to allow them to speak their minds and reveal to the rest of us where they are and what sort of people they really are. Their hateful rhetoric cannot withstand reason, intelligence or the sensibilities of the majority of good people in this country. If they were ever to truly become an underground movement they would be more dangerous than ever. So, let them exercise their First Amendment rights and expose themselves for the bigots and dangerous white nationalist that they are. That said, they do not have a place on any school board in our society. Let us hope that the people in this woman’s district send her home to contemplate her free speech.